1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to maintenance of function boards located in a remote server system.
2. Description of the Related Art
The majority of today's computers include multiple cards or boards each having specific functionalities. Those boards may, for example, provide network connectivity of the computer or provide a display interface. Depending on the computer's architecture, each board can either be permanently fixed or can be removed and replaced. Within the computer, communication within boards is usually performed through a data bus having known characteristics. Those characteristics may be standardized and apply to all the industry (PCI, AGP, etc.) or may be specific to a given computer maker (proprietary interface). Characteristics also vary depending on the nature of the functionalities provided by a board and its fixed or removable nature.
In computers having server capabilities, maintenance of the boards is of great importance since functionalities of the server are linked to the proper working of the boards. A lot of efforts are spent to minimize the impact of maintenance on services provided by the servers. The goal is always to obtain the highest possible availability for all services provided thereby. In order to save time, it is possible, for instance, to shutdown only one board of a server computer and to repair or replace it with another board without having to reset the server. Examples of situations where such an approach is desirable include solving erratic failures from a board cyclically generating alarms, upgrading a board's hardware or software and performing tests on a board.
However, there is no known way of identifying the effects of a board shutdown, or other critical maintenance activity, on the services currently provided by the server. Thus, it is not possible to evaluate the consequences of a given maintenance task beforehand. It would be convenient to obtain the activity status of a board in relation with services provided by the server to be able to predict the effects of a maintenance activity from a service provider perspective. The present invention answers such a need.